BEIJING — A strong earthquake shook a mountainous region in western China near Nepal on Tuesday morning, killing at least nine people.

State broadcaster CCTV cited the Ministry of Emergency Management for the toll but did not say what caused the deaths.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.1 earthquake was centered in the Tibet region at a depth of about 6 miles. China recorded the magnitude as 6.8.

The epicenter was located where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts in the Himalayan mountains strong enough to change the heights of some of the world’s tallest peaks.

The average altitude in the area around the epicenter is about 13,800 feet, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

CCTV said there were a handful of communities within 3 miles of the epicenter, which was 240 miles from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet and about 14 miles from the region’s second-largest city of Xigaze.

In Nepal, the earthquake sent residents running out of their homes in the capital, Kathmandu. Streets were filled with people woken up by the tremor.

There have been 10 earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in the area where Tuesday’s quake hit over the past century, the USGS said.